Showing results by author "Terry Gross" in All Categories

Illustrator Marjane Satrapi and guitar legend Jimmy Page on this edition of Fresh Air. Marjane Satrapi is the author of the memoir, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. The book is in the form of an illustrated comic. Satrapi was born in 1969 in Iran, and grew up in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution.

Hear journalists Douglas Farah and Stephen Braun, and film critic David Edelstein, on this edition of Fresh Air. Farah and Braun have collaborated on a new book about Russian weapons supplier Victor Bout. Bout emerged from the Cold War with easy access to the massive inventories of weapons and ammunition built up by the Soviets.

Hear neurologist Oliver Sacks and rock critic Ken Tucker on this edition of Fresh Air. Oliver Sacks' new book is Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. It's a series of case histories that examine the relationship of music and the mind. Sacks has written eleven books; the most famous are Awakenings, which was made into a film starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

Cage, Keitel, Coppola, and 15 other stars of the stage and screen speak candidly with Fresh Air's Terry Gross in this compilation of classic interviews. Also available: Fresh Air: Laughs, featuring Pryor, Carey, Mason, and more.

Remembering film critic Pauline Kael on this edition of Fresh Air. Pauline Kael died yesterday at the age of 82. William Whitworth was her editor at The New Yorker.

Novelist Jay McInerney and actress Eva Marie Saint on this edition of Fresh Air. Jay McInerney broke onto the literary scene with his best selling novel Bright Lights, Big City, about the excesses of the a Manhattan yuppie in the 1980s. His new book is a collection of essays about the pleasure of wine. It's called Bacchus & Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar.

Computer programmer Linus Torvalds on this edition of Fresh Air. He is the creator of Linux, a computer operating system intended to improve upon Unix. When Torvalds wrote the original code in 1991, he sent it out on the Internet to allow anyone to make changes and improvements.

Journalist Bill Moyers and novelist Joshua Ferris on this edition of Fresh Air. Moyers returns to PBS with Bill Moyers' Journal. The first episode is a 90-minute documentary about the role of the press in the lead-up to the Iraq War. Then, Joshua Ferris is making his debut with the novel Then We Came to the End, a satire about life in a Chicago advertising agency. Ferris' short fiction has appeared in the Iowa Review, Best New American Voices, and Prairie Schooner.

Hear Washington Post reporters Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher, and psychologist Philip Zimbardo on this edition of Fresh Air. Kevin Merida and Michael Fletcher's new book is Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas. The book grew out of their article for the Post, "The Lonely Stand of Clarence Thomas".

Writer Vernor Vinge and actor Steve Buscemi on this edition of Fresh Air. The author of 16 books of science fiction, Vernor Vinge gained a cult following for his early role in writing about cyber-culture and the Internet. His new book, Across Realtime, came out earlier this year. He talks about the difficulty of writing science fiction when technology outdates itself as rapidly as it does. Vinge teaches computer science at San Diego State.

Author Jonathan Lethem and actress Maggie Gyllenhaal on this edition of Fresh Air. Jonathan Letham's new semi-autobiographical novel, The Fortress of Solitude tells the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in an African-American and Latino neighborhood in New York.

Hear former CIA chief George Tenet and comic writer John Ridley, on this edition of Fresh Air. George Tenet has a new memoir, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA. Then, John Ridley, who has written a comic-book series, The American Way, has just had his works collected in a graphic novel.

Journalist Michael Pollan and comedians Sean Altman and Rob Tannenbaum on this edition of Fresh Air. Michael Pollan's new book, The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, follows industrial food, organic food, and food that consumers procure or hunt for themselves, from the source to the dinner plate. It also examines the importance of corn in all of our food products.

Journalist David Cay Johnston on this edition of Fresh Air. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for his investigative reporting in The New York Times. His new book is Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else. Johnston was hired by the Times to cover taxes, and he approached it like an ongoing investigation.

Remembering former publisher of The Washington Post, Katherine Graham and jazz critic Kevin Whitehead on this edition of Fresh Air. Graham died on July 17, at the age of 84. Graham's father owned The Washington Post in 1933 and later her husband, Phil Graham, took over. Following her husband's suicide in 1963, Graham became publisher, knowing little about the managerial or journalistic aspects of the job. But, learning while she worked, she transformed the paper into one of the country's most respected newspapers. The paper broke the Watergate scandal and published the...

British comedian, stand-up performer, and actor Eddie Izzard on this edition of Fresh Air. Izzard is currently selling out venues in the U.S. and Canada with his new stand-up show Circle. He has won over fans with his quirky comedy and his cross-dressing. The Chicago Tribune says, "Izzard lives up to his billing. He's very bright, very fast, and very hip."

Novelist Tim LaHaye and journalist Gershon Gorenberg on this edition of Fresh Air. Tim LeHaye is the co-author of the phenomenally popular Left Behind series. The books are apocalyptic Christian thrillers. The tenth and latest book is The Remnant, which debuted at the top of the New York Times best seller list. LeHaye is also the former co-chairman of Jack Kemp's presidential campaign, was on the original board of directors of the Moral Majority and an organizer of the Council for National Policy which has been called "the most powerful conservative organization in...

Historian Avi Shlaim and remembering Robert Ludlum on this edition of Fresh Air. Avi Shlaim is the author of the new book, The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. Shlaim's book is a revisionist interpretation of Isreal's policy toward the Arab world, based on newly released documents, and on interviews with policymakers and participants in events. Writer Robert Ludlum died yesterday of a heart attack, at age 73. His string of best sellers, such as The Bourne Identity, The Osterman Weekend, and The Icarus Agenda, established him as one of literature's most...

Writer Mary Karr on this edition of Fresh Air. Mary Karr, author of the best-selling memoir The Liar's Club. Her new memoir Cherry which chronicles her teen age years is now out in paperback. In a follow up to what critics call "a hard scrabble childhood," she returns to East Texas to detail her adolescence. Karr relates anecdotes of rebellion, self-doubt and sexual coming of age. The recipient of several literary awards such as the Pushcart Prize and the Bunting Award, she has published two volumes of poetry. She is the Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse...

Olympic snowboarder Chris Klug and jazz trombonist and composer Roswell Rudd on this edition of Fresh Air. He's considered the top American male alpine snowboarder. In July 2000, he underwent a liver transplant to cure a serious and rare degenerative liver ailment. Klug was back on the slopes within months, competing in the World Cup races. Snowboarding made its Olympic debut at the 1998 Nagano games. Klug began skiing at the age of two. He was born and lives in Colorado. Jazz trombonist and composer Roswell Rudd is known for his work with groundbreaking groups and musicians like...